Re: [Gringal] Financial crisis

Re: [RickS] Financial crisis

Technically speaking - a devaluation of that sort shouldn't happen again as the peso is now allowed to float. Not to say that some gentle underpinning may not go on - but I wouldn't expect any huge drop overnight - famous last words?

Re: [robrt8] Financial crisis

Well, here's another spin on the US Financial Crisis and how it may impact Mexico. A good comentary about the subject in The News.

In times of US economic crisis, immigration goes down and so do Mexican exports into the US and remittances - Mexico's # 2 source of income. According to the article below, remittances may fall 4.5 percent this year and another 2 percent in 2009.

Re: [BajaGringo] told they were making the right decisions

I caught on to that awhile back, late 1999 maybe, when I fired my stockbroker. I sold for cash, bought an SUV and put a down payment on a house. The market tanked shortly thereafter, if I had stayed the course I would have had nothing. It was just dumb luck, but I'll take it. What provoked such drastic action? I asked the broker" If you are so smart, then how come you aren't rich?" Its easy to give advice about OTHER PEOPLE's money. Alex

Re: [smokesilver] told they were making the right decisions

This question has been brought up before by me. I can only say that for as long as I can remember--during the last 7 years--this has been the case. Our stock market goes down and the peso goes up. I thought it had something to do with the Clinton bailout, but others differ.

Re: [jl1] told they were making the right decisions

The pesos is going down....it's worth less because you can buy more of them with your dollar. We say the peso is UP because it's a better exchange rate for every US dollar. But if you can buy 11 pesos for a dollar today and yesterday you could only buy 10 pesos with a dollar, then the peso has devalued. Or am I crazy?

Re: [Gringal] told they were making the right decisions

Right, you're ahead because the Mexican Peso is worth less per U.S. dollar. The number pesos per dollar is UP, but the worth of the pesos is down. Has been devalued. You get more bang for your buck, because the peso is cheaper. The peso has been devalued. 11 pesos per dollar is devalued vs. 10 pesos per dollar...but it's a better value for us, because the peso is cheaper. Or another way to look at it, the EURO is has risen in value...it takes more than one dollar to buy a EURO, hence the EURO valuation is UP. Downside for us, however. I am NOT good at figures, so I should keep out of this.

Re: [waltw] Financial crisis

Re: [waltw] Mexico credit

One of the reasons there is a drive to immigrate to the US has to do with credit. We know that, for the most part, if you want to buy something in Mexico you save up for it then purchase it. What makes the US lifestyle attractive is that one can purchase a new refrigerator NOW, you can get a new Lobo Pickup truck NOW, a new home NOW, and pay for it whenever. If that isn't the case anymore then there is less incentive to immigrate. Alex

Re: [alex .] Mexico credit

That's an interesting point, Alex, regarding the easy availability of credit Stateside. However was under the impression, that 'credit' was opening up, perhaps not to the same extent, in Mexico, in recent years. Anyone know for instances of this phenomena?

Re: [wendy devlin] Mexico credit

Credit is definitely a "thing" in Mexico now. In fact, the credit card solicitors have become quite annoying in recent years. But as Alex says, for the average hard-working Joe, things like mortgages can be difficult to qualify for. Downpayments are sizeable. The banks have interesting rules...like if you find a good deal on a sweet house which sits on a street that doesn't happen to be paved (yet), forget it, no mortgage.

Re: [thriftqueen] Financial crisis

The other factor for those of us fortunate enough to have "guaranteed" pension plans is inflation...that you have seen in food prices most recently, though there are other factors involved. Pensions are fixed amounts, and as noted, the COLA is NOT guaranteed... The dollars thus buy less every year, and many commodities cost more. California is today stating that it may need help from the federal government in making payroll...imagine if a state with the economy so large it could join the G-8 if it were a separate country, fails...along with its pension fund, which is invested in the markets. Even with the gargantuan "bail-out" now passed, the markets are not responding positively, because it doesn't look like being enough. Those of us who have a home paid for, especially in Mexico where we don't need to heat or cool it, are relatively lucky, indeed, but this is going to affect everybody in our increasingly global economy.

Re: [wendy devlin] Mexico credit

One only has to look around driving through any major Mexican city to see all the new small tract houses springing up. You know those are being financed as there are not enough lower or middle class Mexicans to purchase them outright. Even here in our small town of Alamos, Sonora we are seeing this class of homes being built here and there on vacant lots, two or three on a very small area of land. This was one of Presidente Fox's wishes that purchase of homes would be made more affordable to the masses.

Also the number of new autos being driven here in our small pueblo is staggering and again one knows they aren't all being paid for with cash. I feel sad knowing that the average middle class Mexican is being sucked up in this must have, buy on the credit attitude that our younger generation in the USA has.

Re: [thriftqueen] Mexico credit

Yep, Mexico is falling for the credit trap. Its true that in Mexico you can get a new refrigerator (and other stuff)NOW, with payments thru Electra. The interest rates are HORRIBLE. Last time my suegra did such a thing it cost 6000 pesos for a low-end washing machine and she had to put up her Escrituras to guarantee payment. I know 'cause I paid it to get her out of that compromiso. When my wife had a mortgage in Tijuana, it was for 5 years at 16.5 % payable in US dollars. She had a credit card, EIGHTY percent interest. Our philosophy in the US: "We will pay any amount for anything as long as we don't have to pay it all at once" is spilling over to MX. Alex